Questionnaires

• Questionnaires can use open or closed questions.

  • Open- respondents are free to answer openly in any way they wish.
  • Closed- respondents must select from a list of pre-determined answers created by the researcher.
• Questionnaires can be structured or unstructured.

  • structured- Follows a list of questions which are answered in order.
  • unstructured- more informal with no fixed formal; room to elaborate.
• Questionnaires can be face-to-face or via post/email.
• Advantages

  • Quick and easy to use
  • Doesn't have to be face to face
  • Quite cheap
• Disadvantages

  • People cannot be bothered to fill them in.
  • People may rush them and not take them seriously.
  • Closed questions don't find out much due to the lack of detail.
• Advantages

  A quick and easy method of data collection, especially large groups of people.

  • Practical advantage

  Training of interviewers and researchers is not required.

  • Practical advantage
• Advantages

  • Useful for testing hypothesis and showing a link between two variables.
  • Structured questionnaires produce quantitative data which is easily used to identify relationships between two variables.
  • Structured questions are highly reliable.
  • unstructured questions are highly valid.
  • Highly objective, as the researcher is usually not present.
  • Detachment!
• Disadvantages

  • Usually brief and therefore limited in their scope of questioning, limiting the amount of data received.
  • people may not complete, accurately or fully, a questionnaire which is too long-a practical issue.
  • Although cheap and easy, people may need an incentive to take part.
  • Prize draw; payment-added costs; practical issue.
• Disadvantages

  • Low response rate, leading to a lower amount of data received.
  • Why might people fail to respond? what does this do to the validity and representativeness of your data?
  • How do you know they received your questionnaire?
• Disadvantages

  • Detachment
  • An interpretivist criticism; detachment from the subject of study reduced the validity of the results.
  • Structured questionnaires lack validity.
  • Unstructured questionnaires lack reliability.
• Disadvantages

  • Lying and 'giving the correct answer.'
  • 'right answerism'-trying to second guess the researcher and give them the answer the respondent believes they are looking for.